Direct analysis in real-time (DART) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) of wood reveals distinct chemical signatures of two species of Afzelia

Abstract

Distinct chemical fingerprints of the wood of Afzelia pachyloba and A. bipindensis demonstrated an effective method for identifying these two commercially important species. Direct analysis in real-time (DART) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) allowed high-throughput examination of chemotypes with vast potential in taxonomic, ecological, and forensic research of wood. Afzelia is a genus of valuable tropical timber trees. Accurate identification of wood is required for the prevention of illicit timber trade as well as for certification purposes in the forest and wood products industry. For many years, particular interest has been focused on attempts to distinguish the wood of A. bipindensis Harms from A. pachyloba Harms due to substantial differences in the commercial values of these two species. We investigated if wood chemical signatures and microscopy could identify the wood of A. bipindensis and A. pachyloba. We used two approaches, namely metabolome profiling by direct analysis in real-time (DART) time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) and wood microstructure by light microscopy and SEM. In all, we analyzed samples from 89 trees of A. bipindensis, and A. pachyloba. The two species could not be separated by the IAWA standard microscopic wood features. SEM analysis showed considerable variation in the morphology of vestured pits; however, this variation was not species-specific. In contrast, DART-TOFMS followed by unsupervised statistics (Discriminant Analysis of Principal Components) showed distinct metabolome signatures of the two species. DART-TOFMS provides a rapid method for wood identification that can be easily applied to small heartwood samples. Time- and cost-effective classification of wood chemotypes by DART-TOFMS can have potential applications in various research questions in forestry, wood science, tree-ecophysiology, and forensics.